A database is a technical environment that is difficult for end-users to master. For this reason end-user access to database content is a challenge. The database architecture dictates how data and information is stored and how its query language works. To help end-users formulate query languages Grace et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,859) automate the selection of database components, and Premerlani et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,367) provide an object-oriented diagram. Maloney et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,453) go one step further by creating a logical schema of the underlying database to facilitate the development of end-user access methods. All of these improvements, however, are still very dependent upon the logical structure of the underlying database and the query language.
In contrast, the content menu is an access method based on the semantic associations drawn from an information domain. The content menu functions like an index in the back of a book, producing a list of lists that is independent of the underlying database architecture. Prior disclosures (Zellweger, U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,125) employ an open hierarchical data structure to store and manage menu data for the content menu. However, while prior disclosures teach how to generate menu paths from external sources (Zellweger, Ser. No. 09/033,775), the structure's menu data store static values that have to be updated manually or through program control. For highly volatile data, in a dynamic environment, these prior methods are far too inefficient to work effectively.
To solve this problem, the present invention uses working data content in a database to generate a content menu at runtime. The present invention uses the code expression of the prior art (Zellweger Ser. No. 09/033,764 & Zellweger Ser. No. 09/039,877) to demonstrate one way to relate a set of data in a database to another set of data in a database in order to produce a series of connected list menus known as a content menu that lead to an information object. However, the present invention uses this coded expression to generate metadata, something never intended by the prior art.
End-users navigate list menus in a content menu to reach an information object at the end of a menu path. Prior art in producing a database navigation structure includes Simonetti (U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,261) and Oren et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,117). However, the "topological map" produced by Simonetti requires an expert understanding of both the database structure and content to use this method effectively. And Oren's navigation means, a hypertext interface, is mediated by a set of index terms associated with database objects.